Ghost in the Shell

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What’s the purpose of a movie remake? More specifically, what’s the purpose of an American remake of an existing (and usually acclaimed) foreign film? Whenever they’re announced, everyone involved makes sure to stress in interviews that it’s all about honoring what’s great about the source material while, at the same time, telling a story that’s relevant to the world right now. Certainly that’s been the party line whenever the cast and crew of Ghost in the Shell discuss the movie, itself an adaptation of a famous Japanese comic series from 1989 that was already made into an iconic anime film in 1995. And for once, there’s some reason to believe them: Ghost in the Shell is a look at a world where humanity and technology have begun to converge, a possibility that’s way less theoretical in 2017 than it was almost 30 years ago.

However, there’s a less flattering reason why these remakes exist: The U.S. is virtually the only country on Earth that refuses to see foreign-language m